Abstract

A capacitance standard based directly on the definition of capacitance was built. Single-electron tunneling devices were used to place N electrons of charge e onto a cryogenic capacitor C, and the resulting voltage change ΔV was measured. Repeated measurements ofC = Ne/ΔV with this method have a relative standard deviation of 0.3 × 10–6. This standard offers a natural basis for capacitance analogous to the Josephson effect for voltage and the quantum Hall effect for resistance.

↵* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: mark.keller{at}boulder.nist.gov